Commitment Phobic Part 2

Seeing as how we Scanners need to find a way to get through the commitment phobia, Barbara Sher seems to have found one. 

 I don't know how easily this will work, since I have never tried it, but she says that it did work for many scanners she worked with or spoke to. Each scanner needs to adapt this to their own situation or job. 

This method is called - LTTL - or Learn, Try, Teach and Leave

SO - In your scanner daybook, you can write up a detailed one page plan for each and every career or interest you are considering. What you want to do first, is to learn everything you can about the job, and think up improvements as well - but just write them on paper, do NOT action them yet.

The next step can only happen after when you get a promotion or a position of some responsibility. Then you can start trying out the improvements and refine them as necessary.

Step 3 is to train someone else to do your job and manage the improvements. And make sure you are being well paid for the improvements since they you initiated them and they save the business a lot of money.

Step 4 is to leave the job - hopefully with severance or a good package to live on until you can repeat the whole process again with a new job.


There will be variations of this with every job, but most Scanners can adapt this to their own situation and Barbara has found that it does work well with scanner personalities. Since they no longer have to commit themselves to being with that employer for the rest of their lives, this gives them the freedom they crave - with a  defined point in time for them to be free again. 

Naturally of course the scanner will never tell the employer these plans - but if you can leave the company after having made some substantial improvements, then you may eventually earn the reputation as the go to person for turning companies around.

When the fun peters out (or when the job stops being fun), then the talented walk out.

Smart employers know they want to keep the talented so they have to make the job fun for their employees.

Noone can expect scanners to sit there on the telephone, or pushing buttons all day long for the rest of their life. No way!!!

Change the word "commit" to the phrases "try out" or "audition"

Jobs like movies and plays that require an audition, are not permanent jobs. They last a few months but are seldom permanent. So thinking of each job as a play to audition for or try out for a shirt time, makes earning money a lot easier to manage!!



There are 3 inescapable facts

 1 - Scanners can choose many specialties - combine them, turn into an interesting job, do them all at the same time or one at a time, do them part time, or any other combination as desired.

2 - Scanners can use any decent job to support what they LOVE to do, and do it in their own time. Most self employed scanners do this.

3 - All  Scanners can invent their own careers. 

So you need to learn how to do the job, try it out and make it better, teach someone else how to do the new job and then leave. It makes a huge difference to starting any new jobs knowing that there is an exit date planned in there somewhere.  

If you wish to become self employed then go for it!! Some people wind up and close their own business after 5 or 10 years, just because they have learnt all they could from it. Others are happy to allow it to continue on.